French painter goes to southern entrance (7)
I believe the answer is:
ingress
'entrance' is the definition.
('ingress' can be a synonym of 'entrance')
'french painter goes to southern' is the wordplay.
'french painter' becomes 'ingres' (I've seen this before).
'goes to' says to put letters next to each other.
'southern' becomes 's' (abbreviation).
'ingres'+'s'='INGRESS'
(Other definitions for ingress that I've seen before include "right of entry" , "Ribbon-like pasta" , "Singers (anag.)" , "Means of access" , "Way in" .)